


Finding Out

by Rising_Phoenix



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Alternative Universe - No Immortality, Joe owns a deli, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Nicky is a teacher, Not so much secret but people are just not realizing Joe is married to Nicky, Oblivious Nile, Secret Marriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:13:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25959601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rising_Phoenix/pseuds/Rising_Phoenix
Summary: Nile finds out her boss Joe is not married to a woman...
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 43
Kudos: 496





	Finding Out

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hanniXwill1](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hanniXwill1/gifts).



Andy knew that Booker had dragged her into the newly opened deli down in the college district, Joe’s Deli, because her friend was crushing hard not only on the handsome owner, but even harder on the cute young woman that helped him behind the counter.

From what Andy saw from the corner of her eye when they entered the store with its glass counters and filled plates with food, the young woman was most probably a student herself, like many of the people that frequented the deli, and Andy felt inclined to tell Booker that she was way too young for him, but she knew him too well over all the years they had been business partners to know how stubborn the French man was and that age had no meaning to him, like it should be. Still, she knew that he had in the past too often had his heart broken, mostly by his family after his wife had left him and his sons had turned their backs on him, and she wished nothing but happiness for the man who had been her constant companion through thick and thin.

What she had not expected was, the immediate flood of seductive scents that hit her senses as soon as they had closed the door behind them. Honey, spices, nuts and many other scents that combined to a mix that made her close her eyes and moan in a way that was almost orgasmic.

Booker next to her chuckled and when she opened her eyes again, she saw how he had raised his brows, his clear eyes filled with mischief.

“That good, huh?”

She groaned and roller her eye at him, but could not avoid to laugh herself.

“It smells like heaven,” she said, already scanning the displays of delicious looking food.

“That’s great to hear,” a man said, and when Andy looked up, she looked into the blackest eyes she had ever seen, surrounded by a handsome face with dark stubble and a head of shiny, black curls. Dimples in his cheeks gave her the clear impression that she had to do with a man who was probably a little shit and she immediately knew they would get along well.

“I fear I will gain a few pounds,” she laughed. “In case it tastes as delicious as is smells and looks.”

The man grinned, his eyes shining with glee. He only shortly looked to this side and then he held a white plate out, on which small pieces of baklava were placed.

“Try,” he only said. “This one is made with pistachio, the other two with walnut and hazelnut.”

Andy’s eyes lit up, and Booker chuckled again next to her, while she was picking up the sweet and sticky pastry, and started to chew, again closing her eyes in bliss, moaning again in a way that had the man behind the counter widen his eyes before he laughed with a wink.

“I hope your husband makes you make the same sounds,” he laughed, then biting his lip as if he had not thought what he said before the words left his mouth, and then relaxed when Andy winked at him.

“This is the best baklava I have ever eaten in my life,” she said after she had swallowed the pistachio filled dream. “And it’s girlfriend, not husband.”

The man nodded and grinned.

“I will give my grandmother your regards about the baklava,” he said. “It’s her recipe.”

“You make these yourself?” Andy asked in surprise.

“Oh yes,” he replied, while he watched how Booker had went away and was starting to flirt with his help. “Baking relaxes me, and these are Nicky’s favorites. They remind me of good times.”

Andy was watching Booker herself and got ready to save the young woman from him, but the man made a gesture that stopped her.

“Nile can defend her honor very well herself if she wants to,” he said with a smile. “Your friend has been here every day since we opened, and I think she finds him to be very attractive, which he of course is. Let the children play.”

Andy had to laugh at the thought that someone called Booker a child, but she could not agree more, taking while still watching Booker flirt clumsily another piece of baklava and started to chew it after the man had pushed the plate again into her direction. He smiled with pride at her moan and how she nodded in approval.

“How much for everything you baked today?” She laughed after she had finished her second sample.

He laughed, pearly and clear, eyes shining in happiness.

“Oh, I think we could come to a better arrangement,” he laughed. “We have bonus programs. Either buy five, get one free. Or for every 50 spent dollars you get a discount of 10% for your next purchase. I’d offer that you get today one of our small boxes with six baklava for half the price. Considering the sounds that just came from you, I’m very sure we will see you again.”

Andy grinned and gave a sharp nod.

“We have a deal,” she said. “I though want to pay the full price today, these are worth every penny. You can tell your grandma that you’re doing a perfect job here.”

He laughed and then wiped his hand clean on his apron and offered it to Andy.

“I’m Joe,” he said.

“As in, Joe’s Deli,” she stated.

“Exactly that one.”

She nodded and looked at the displays of more oriental delicacies that she was tempted to try, feeling her mouth water already at the sight.

“That’s a great shop you have here. You opened just recently, right?”

“We did, yes,” he said, again with the pride of a man in his voice, who was happy with what he had achieved. “Just a month ago, and it goes much better than we hoped, which means a lot of work though.”

Again, Andy nodded, noticing the silver ring on Joe’s hand.

“Your better half must be very patient when you have so much additional work.”

“Oh, Nicky is still in London, teaches history there at college,” he said, eyes filling with warmth. “We’ll be reunited in a few weeks, finally.” He sighed. “Counting the days.”

“How long have you been apart? Sounds like it’s a while,” she said, feeling with the man who was still a stranger and still she had the certain feeling that he very soon would be a friend.

“A few weeks,” he said. “I went to London for Nicky’s birthday, but since then it’s lot of facetiming and phone sex.”

Andy stared at him for a moment, seeing how he realized what he just had said and a blush creeping up his neck to fill his cheeks with a rosy color.

“I can’t believe you just said that,” his help, Nile, said when she came closer.

“I can’t believe I just said that myself, seems I have lost my last bit of decency,” he laughed, rubbing his neck in embarrassment, and it felt so natural to laugh with him.

Oh yes, he would for sure become a good friend.

* * * * * * * * * * *

And he did.

During the next weeks that turned into months, Joe became a close friend to Andy, her girlfriend Quynh and Booker, who in the meantime had given up flirting with Nile, who had set her boundaries straight after Booker had asked her out for a date and told him that yes, she should be interested in a friendship but not in anything else after her breakup from her last boyfriend.

The friends had made it their job to distract Joe from his loneliness that often was mirrored in his eyes, especially when he watched Andy, who had gotten a spare key for his place in case of emergencies, and Quynh exchange looks and short gestures of their devotion. It was often that he was smiling, making jokes with Booker, and still his eyes wore a sadness that almost broke Andy's heart. She knew he missed his wife every day, and once she had overheard him talking on the phone to his Nicky, and even though they were talking in another language, she heard the tenderness and love in his words. Still, she was surprised what a terrible and incorrigible flirt Joe was, which she had witnessed when they had went out to a club together and he had flirted very openly with the pretty girl behind the bar, leaning into her personal space with a laughter that made the corners of his eyes crinkle and gave him something almost irresistible. When they had dropped him at his place, the apartment right above his deli, she had asked him if he had pictures of his Nicky he could show her and he rolled his eyes.

“I would never cheat on Nicky,” he said without having been asked about it, able to read what she was implying. “You don’t need to remind me of my significant other. And no, I have no pictures here. My phone broke when I moved here and Nicky has still a lot of our things over there in London. And now, good night, my lovelies, I have a very important phone call to make with overseas.”

And with that he winked and left them behind, Quynh giggling and slapping Andy’s arm.

“Did you just really accuse him of cheating on his Nicky?” She asked. “He’s more in love then anyone I’ve ever seen before, he’s just a flirt.”

Andy nodded and started their car again, bringing them home, and trying to remember to never accuse Joe of such behavior again.

A few weeks later, something changed.

Joe got himself a roommate.

The Italian teacher that moved in with him, probably because the apartment was really too large for one man alone, was sweet as pie and, while his English was not flawless, charming and had the most breathtaking eyes she had ever seen on a man, somewhere between blue, silver, and green, and the brightest smile. It seemed that Joe and Nicolò had been friends for a while, and he had offered his old friend a place to stay until he found something on his own, mentioning now and then that he had spoken again to a realtor who was looking for a townhouse he could move into from the guest room his many boxes with books and other things occupied in Joe’s apartment. 

Andy had driven Joe to a farmer’s market a few days prior and had later found a box with organic honey in the trunk of her car, and brought them to Joe’s place one evening. She had called Nile when she could not reach Joe, and handed the box over to his trusted help just when she closed the deli. For a moment, Nile considered to just put the box into the deli, but remembering that Joe had announced he wanted to try a new recipe the next morning before they opened, she decided to bring the box upstairs to his apartment.

When he did not react to the doorbell, she got a little nervous, and so she fished her keys out of the pocket and let herself in. The hallway was dark and she frowned a little but assumed that Joe had went out and decided to put the box on his kitchen table and leave a note with it.

Nile put down her coat on the side chair in the small hallway of Joe’s apartment and stretched her shoulders, tiredness in every muscle after the long day. Chewing her lip she listened into the darkness of the place, feeling a little guilty that she did not just give call him upfront to let him know she would come over, feeling bad for intruding.

The apartment was dark, but then she noticed that a lamp in Joe’s bedroom seemed to be still turned on. So maybe Joe was taking a nap, but she knew his doorbell would wake the dead, which resulted in her being now even more worried and she knew she had to check on him in case something had happened. In the last weeks, there had been break-ins in buildings in the neighborhood and she was immediately worried that Joe had been robbed and was injured.

Nile slipped out of her shoes and moved without making a sound towards the bedroom door that was ajar far enough to peek inside, but she did not find her dark haired friend on the floor in his own blood…instead, she her boss’ naked back and butt moving rhythmically with another person.

Her eyes widened. Knowing she should just turn around and leave, she could not take the eyes off the scene that unfolded in front of her.

There were soft sighs and moans, a pair of hands moving over the toned back of her friend, who she had to admit was in a shape she had not expected, toned and muscled. His right hand moved beneath the woman below him, caressing a pale side, causing her to spread her long, slender legs further and wrap them around his body, welcoming the thrusts and prompting him to move harder, most probably deeper.

Nile was finding herself strangely aroused by the sight of her friend – HER PLATONIC AND MARRIED FRIEND AND BOSS! – having sex. There was a rough laugh and his slight accent whispered something, to which another sigh followed. The room was filled with the sound of their meeting bodies, with the sound of wet kisses, then more sighs and moans that got louder, while his movements got more erratic and his thighs started to slightly tremble.

Her eyes widened further, realizing that he just climaxed, but what fascinated her even more was that the woman seemed to climax at almost the same time without having been touched, when she saw how she dig her fingernails deep into his back and her legs too trembled, until they fell almost lifeless to the sides.

Joe dad slumped down on top of the woman he just fucked and it took a few seconds until he raised his head and Nile assumed that he said something, because the woman slapped his shoulder playful and then pulled him down to kiss him soundly.

“Am I too heavy?” She now heard Joe whisper, the voice hoarse.

“Mmmmh,” made the woman with a husky voice, but shoving against his shoulder.

Joe laughed and rolled from her, reaching for a bottle of water on the nightstand.

Joe touched the back of his sex partner who now sat up, running the hands through a mop of messy, Nile brown hair and grabbing the bottle that he now offered to him.

“The things you make me do…,” he said.

Nile’s eyes almost popped out of the sockets when the other turned around and caressed her friend’s stubbly face with the fingertips, which now were kissed gently.

“The things YOU make me do,” came the reply, but not from a woman, and Nile’s brain could not process this information about him.

The person that just had the most intimate sex with was a man and not just any man, but his roommate!

Joe was…bi?

What was happening here?

“Joe?” She heard herself say.

Joe sat up, the eyes showing surprise, while the other one turned towards the door, both though not shy enough to cover their nude bodies.

“Nile? What the heck?”

“You didn’t answer the doorbell, I was worried something happened.”

“I was…busy?” Joe said, running a hand through his curls.

“What the fuck is going on here?” Nile said, recovered from the initial surprise and voice sharp.

Nicolò raised a brow while Joe just stared at her.

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“For all the time I know you, you are all about declaring your undying love for your Nicky, and now you go and fuck…him? No offense, Nicolò.”

He raised both hands.

“None taken,” the Italian said, turning to Joe. “You declare your undying love?”

“Each and every day.”

The teacher chuckled and leaned closer to Joe and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

“You are the sweetest. I sometimes wonder what I have done to deserve you.”

“Good you notice, and now that we’re at it…,” he said and started to pull him even closer. “…you could proof your devotion by…”

“Guys!” Nile said. “I’m still here. What the ever loving fuck, Joe! What about Nicky?”

Joe looked at her, eyes dark with growing annoyance.

“What about Nicky?” He asked.

“Why do you cheat on her?”

Both men stared at Nile, and then both started to laugh at the same time.

“Her,” Joe said flatly. “Nile, I never thought you would be this tense when I hired you. Nicky stands for Nicolò.”

Nile stared at the two men, watched how her boss could hardly hold back laughter and his lover, that kind man she had gotten to know as a gentle and intelligent soul.

“Can I introduce my husband to you?” Joe laughed.

It took a few more seconds before Nile finally understood, but then embarrassment and realization dawned.

“Oh.”


End file.
